McKinney Gypsy Caravan

One part travel blog. One part nerdy history lesson.

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Entertaining a 2 year old

March 16, 2015 / / 1 Comment

I told you if there was interest I’d post what we are taking with us to try to entertain the little tyrant… So here you go.

These cute little REI women’s hiking bags are awesome because of all of the pockets. We had one before that was stolen.. So we bought another to replace it for the trip.



The key is flat objects for maximum items to account for her 2 minute attention span and no sound so no one kills us on the flights or in restaurants. 

She is way into The Very Hungry Cateriller- so I found this very thin ColorForms on Amazon

Also, she’s just starting to draw and write (and she’s terrible at it lol) so I found a dry-erase book of tracing lines and letters so she can do it over and over again to save space.

She is also obsessed with these Finger Family videos on YouTube. (“daddy finger, daddy finger, where are you?”) so Grandma Baboo (Donna) sent finger puppets these over from Hong Kong

She also sent this awesome tape activity book. She is going to love that she can unroll and stick tape down on the pictures.

Of course, she’s in love with Frozen so we got a few Frozen themed things that she hasn’t seen yet..the highlight (and our ace in the hole) is the Frozen digital Camera. She is going to flip over this. She tries to take my camera all the time…now she gets her own. 







I found a miniature play set of Frozen figures on EBay that I thought would be good for playtime and not take up much room

Also, magnet sets are awesome for the car or plane because you have to work pretty hard to get the pieces to fall off



Imagine Ink books are awesome too because they color with just water and there is no delay of the color appearing like with the Color Wonder.



One of my favorite finds was this Melissa and Doug memory game. It has tons of different insert cards, so they can always lift the flap and find something new. 



I also found this party pack of mini play-doh so I just stuck a couple in the bag for something to play with on the tray table if things get rough. Haha

And lastly- the figures. I repurposed an old Makeup bag as the Mickey Mouse/Peppa Pig carrier.

Also, in her suitcase- I packed our 5 trusty “every night” books

And above all else- I have the iPad, so we have our purchased movies and all the apps as well as this amazing new feature I found that’s free!

Sites like YouTube are awesome when you have an  Internet connection  because each video can just keep rolling into the next.

I found a website where you can copy the link to the YouTube video and it will save off a copy onto your computer for you.  You can then  import it into iTunes as a “Home Video” and sink it to your iPad.

Took me a good 30-40 minutes, but I was able to grab all her favorite “go-to”s from YouTube for about 7-8 hrs of YouTube videos

The site is KeepVid

www.keepvid.com

**If you’re going to use it- watch out for the “download now” buttons that are advertisements- you want to scroll down to the bottom and save the 480p or the 720p version of the file.

I’m sure there are more user friendly sites out there, too-

Savetube.com and TubeLeecher.com look promising- but I’ve never even been to the website…so do your research first 🙂

Well, Off to bed I go.. Our ride to the airport arrives at 8:40am. 

It’s Packing Day!

March 15, 2015 / / 12 Comments

After years of business and personal travel…I like to think I’ve become quite the expert packer. If I’m going anywhere for less than a week, I can do it in a carry-on. People always ask how I can pack so “light”… But the truth is, I don’t pack light at all. 

So, since this time I was packing for over three weeks to a cold destination…I thought it might be fun to capture the packing process for anyone interested.

I raided the closet and this is what I selected for the trip:



No way, right?  Wrong.

In 15 minutes- all of that plus shoes and toiletries was in here:



And really, this suitcase is just the next size up from carry-on… It’s not even a full size.

So enough bragging. Here’s the secret: pack loose items into packing cubes where you can and learn to fold and stack for maximum space in a suitcase.

I was able to fit 15 pair of undies and 5 of MY bras (yeah…I went there) into this 6×9 inch packing cube.



Most people think about suitcases all wrong. We open it up on the bed and start using the sides like drawers. That limits the stacking space. Stand it upright on something rigid, a little higher than the ground to make it easier. I chose the bedside table…and use it like a shelf.



Start with your most important items you have to pack and stack all the way to the top



Then, once it’s stuffed to the top, lie it flat and continue placing items in the leftover “top” space in the traditional fashion until full



Unzip the expander ring zipper to give you an idea of how high to stack your remaining items. Place shoes in the pockets and other small items that have not yet been packed

Lastly, add your toiletries in the small areas in all the nooks and crannies.





Then zip it up and once it’s zipped, apply some pressure to the top and re-zip the expanded ring for extra security against movement inside the suitcase



And there you have it.  Suitcase packing- Level Expert.

Any other tips and tricks? Was this helpful?  Let me know in the comments. 

Monday is the big day. We leave West Palm Beach airport on a 2 hr flight to Newark.

A 5 hour layover with a toddler there should interesting…then the 6 hour flight to Dublin. Did I mention we’re bringing the toddler? 🙂

If anyone is interested in what we packed to entertain Norah for the next 3 weeks, let me know and I’ll try to share.

Because “NotSoInnocentsAbroad” was already taken

January 25, 2015 / / 3 Comments

I have spent the last 6 months to a year researching just where to go in Europe for our first trip. In fact, it’s sort of been an obsession to see everything I can see in our time in Ireland and the UK.

I initially planned out a 10 day Germany/Switzerland/Austria trip all the way to Day 7’s itinerary, only to find out that Europe is basically closed from November-April (Moose out front should have told me)…. and since we had to do our trip in March, I was back to square one. Turns out I had a lot to learn about travel to and around Europe.

So, as I’m researching and planning…I’m thinking, “How do I want to share this with everyone?” Facebook is awesome…but I didn’t feel like bombarding old coworkers and high school acquaintances with pictures and videos 5 times a day for 3 weeks. Plus, I truly wanted to share our experiences if anyone was interested, not just accumulate “Likes” on some selfies.

Also, in my research I realized that there are tons of message board type websites: tripadvisor.com, virtualtourist.com, etc…. but I had trouble finding real accounts from real travelers of what things they saw, where they ate, etc. I was looking to open a website and see a detailed itinerary with pictures…maybe even a mapped location of their various points along their trip. Now, I’m sure they exist…and this isn’t a novel idea… but I hoped that by archiving our trip in this fashion, maybe someone in the future (or hundreds of someones!) can use my 6 months of research to make their planning a little easier in the future and see more sites off the beaten path that sometimes only the locals know about and wouldn’t be found on a “Top 20 Things to do in Ireland” list.

Since we are so lucky to have the time and resources to even GO on this trip…I wanted to share some of the rich history, beautiful landscapes and awesome people we will be so lucky to meet.

In 1867, Mark Twain and a group of other American travelers chartered a retired Civil War ship, the USS Quaker City, for a voyage through Europe and the Holy Land. He wrote back weekly for a newspaper column throughout his trip and some years later, those columns were compiled into a book, “The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrim’s Progress”.  It became his best selling book during his lifetime.

So that’s how I bought a website domain: FreshInnocentsAbroad.com because NotSoInnocentsAbroad.com was already taken. (Granted, its just parked. Grrrr. but that’s OK. I’m creative!)

I’ve always felt very similarly to Twain while travelling. Throughout his columns, you can feel the boredom and his anger at the exploitation of history and the past by the “businessmen” of the present. The commercialization, the same tired stories told to tourists, the same trinkets on every corner because we think those are the things we are supposed to experience. These are the souvenirs we’re supposed to buy. Only when Twain traveled to places “off the beaten path” did his writing seem to indicate that he truly seemed to enjoy his voyage…and I find myself in very much the same mindset as Twain when I travel. I never enjoy the place listed #1 on the “things not to miss”list. The lines, the gift shops, the same Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville…. that’s not an experience to me…that’s just comfort in numbers and familiarity. Neither of which I feel should have any place in travel. You should be uncomfortable, out of place, in unknown territory….that’s how we experience the world from another point of view. That’s how we learn and grow and live.

So, I hope you follow this blog as we travel.  I hope you enjoy it…I hope you learn something you didn’t know before…I hope it inspires you go somewhere new or try something you’ve never tried before.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

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